The Lone Cyclist: Part 7
Cycling uphill soon one step closer
I remember clearly my first summer after moving to Cape Town. The blisters might have healed, but the scars of walking from Green Point to Clifton (and back) in slops, without a hat, will require more than Vitamin E to disappear.
Unable to attract an empty seat on the overcrowded taxis, too foreign yet to call a friend for a ride, and too once-bitten-twice-shy to try and find parking at the beach, these were the days before the adventures of the LoneCyclist.
Cycling freedom aside, I was therefore delighted to bump into the media tent (or bus in this case) today in front of the soon-to-be-baptised Albert Luthuli Square in Cape Town. Checking bus tickets from journalists before boarding, was first citizen, Mayor Patricia De Lille, proudly showing off one of 190 new feeder buses that will soon link out-of-air cyclists like myself to city hotspots.
I can only hope that the 110 workers at the new Busmark factory in Epping, from where buses will be assembled and some parts exported, will have in mind the needs of this LoneCyclist who still steams up the hills of Sea Point presently. The first wheels start rolling in July through the Atlantic Seaboard, connecting to Hout Bay, by which time I will sport a very impressive set of legs from cycling up my hill.
More urgently, I hope my car-hugging fellow citizens will take a step closer to enjoying the full benefits of a mobile city. One that will soon not be exploreable exclusively by car.
Well done to the mothers of this city of ours for making life a little easier on cyclists, pedestrians and beach going fans.
Previous Editions of The Lone Cyclist